How a ‘priority’ on next-gen tankers paved the way for more Boeing KC-46s

WASHINGTON — A renewed emphasis on fielding next-gen air refueler by the mid-2030s has left Boeing’s KC-46 Pegasus as the only tanker that can readily meet the Air Force’s tanker needs, though supply chain and data rights issues could be a factor longterm, the service said in a new document.

The justification and approval (J&A) notice posted by the Air Force Oct. 2 recaps the service’s tumultuous plans for its air refueling fleet over the last few years, culminating in a decision this summer to order up to 75 more KC-46s. The J&A was required since the service is contracting with Boeing for more tankers without a competition.

The document says requests for information for the Air Force’s now-defunct KC-135 Tanker Recapitalization Program garnered a wide range of industry responses, including from a teamup of Lockheed Martin and Airbus up against Boeing. The Air Force said that based on industry replies, only Airbus and Boeing — after Lockheed backed out of its partnership with the European conglomerate — could “partially meet the draft requirements” outlined by the program, including that a solution should be ready to field by fiscal 2031.

But in early 2025, the Air Force changed course as “evolving global threats and competing DoD priorities” resulted in a next-gen tanker known as NGAS becoming a “priority.” In the process, the document says the Air Force found that for the original recapitalization program, both Boeing and Airbus would need “significant development” to meet requirements. The Air Force thus deemed the recap option unaffordable since it also needed to spend money to develop the NGAS platform.

So, the service ditched requirements for a new tanker effort and opted instead to use ones that already exist for the KC-46 until NGAS eventually comes online, the document says. That decision essentially cleared the way for Boeing, since the A330 MRTT Airbus was pitching would need “significant development to meet mandatory requirements.” 

A key driver of the decision to use KC-46 requirements, according to the document, was time. The Air Force is currently replacing its aging KC-135 Stratotanker fleet with the KC-46, but Pegasus deliveries under an existing contract are set to conclude in 2030 — roughly six years before NGAS would be ready at the earliest. To keep replacing the KC-135 with newer refuelers, the Air Force needs a tanker that could fill that six-year gap, which the service says only the KC-46 can do. 

Still, buying more KC-46s will come with problems. Boeing “will need to resolve” diminishing manufacturing sources and material shortages (DMSMS) along with parts obsolescence, which the document says impacts both the current KC-46 program and its extension. Additionally, the document raises the prospect of negotiating for more rights to technical data and software, particularly when current rights are “less than the level required” for the KC-46’s production extension.

Boeing referred a request for comment to the Air Force. In a statement to Breaking Defense, Airbus said, “We stand by our proven tanker solution and its evolution, the MRTT+. Airbus remains engaged with the USAF as they continue to evaluate their Next Generation Air Refueling Solution.”

NGAS: Back To The Future

NGAS’s fate until recently had been in doubt, as officials under the Biden administration said the platform might not be affordable, while the Air Force’s FY26 budget devoted limited resources to research and development efforts.

As the document makes clear, the Air Force now treats NGAS as a critical need, though it does note that the “final path to NGAS has yet to be defined given the competing defense priorities.” The program has completed an analysis of alternatives, the document says, though additional fact-gathering is currently underway to refine its requirements.

According to Gen. John Lamontagne, chief of the Air Force’s Air Mobility Command, the service examined a wide range of potential platforms — from business jets to blended wing body aircraft and stealthy, “signature managed” refuelers — for the NGAS mission. The platform is expected to operate in hazardous environments like the Indo-Pacific, where runways are few and air defenses are formidable.

An RFI for the NGAS program was released to industry in August.

“We got some really rough costs associated with that first analysis of alternatives,” Lamontagne told reporters during a roundtable at the AFA conference in September. The August RFI “is really, at its simplest, an attempt to refine those costs, go back out to industry and figure out what’s in the realm of the possible at the right level of signature management, if we go down that road.” 

In the meantime, industry is readying candidates to offer the Air Force for next-gen refueling. According to Roderick McLean, vice president and general manager of air mobility and maritime missions at Lockheed, the company expects a survivable, clean-sheet aircraft will be needed for the mission.

“We do see that you will need to have a survivable vehicle much more refined” than standard tube-and-wing designs “so that it can operate closer in to provide air refueling to a number of systems that will operate in the theater,” McLean said in an interview with Breaking Defense on the sidelines of the AFA conference. 

“We’re very much excited and interested in shaping that opportunity to pursue that,” he added.